D&D NEXT

I got really excited reading about D&D Next.

It's great to hear about the making of a new D&D version. The web is rife with discussions concerning the content of this new version, and the new community site (available here) is a good source of information in the mad sea of misinformation.

Creating a new version of D&D is not an easy task, especially when aiming to seperate the core of D&D (its essence?) from the many extensions, expansions and styles of play. From Basic D&D, to AD&D, 3.0, 3.5e and 4e, control has moved from the DM's side of the screen to the player's. I personally believe this is a mistake.

The following sentence might sound harsh, but I really believe it is the truth: D&D is reduced to a computer/board game without an empowered DM.

An empowered DM can make decisions. An empowered DM can make things happen "out of the blue" if nesseccary. An empowered DM pose a unique challange to overcome, a challange that cannot be emulated by rules, computers or any other non-human interface.

So my advice to Wizards (if they are listening at all) is this: Have D&D Next be all about the DM. Recognize that the DM is the focal point of the game session and understand that DMs (and especially good DMs) are a great way to draw players to the table and to the gaming community.

Player content is great and is much needed, but the if the DM sucks, players will leave his table not matter how good/fun to play are their characters. Think about it this way: in your gaming group, how much of the interaction occurs between players, and how much interaction occurs between a player and the DM?

DM's are a bottleneck, but intead of eliminating the bottleneck (by eliminating the DM), empower the DM and have players stand in line for another great D&D session. How? Design D&D Next with the DM in mind, and find ways to help him spend less time on the rules, and more time on creating the gaming experience his players will like best.

It's Out, and It's Mine

It's lousy, full of poor English, spelling mistakes and cardboard characters, but it's out, and it's mine.
(Nanowrimo effort, self-published using Lulu)

Wings of Darkness by Ido Tamir

My Story, My Words, My Feelings

I wrote a wonderful scene yesterday, late at night. Got really emotional while writing it, and really enjoyed the feeling. I finished it, polished it a little and went to sleep.

Then the dreams came.

I woke up feeling unsure about something, as if the scene that I wrote somehow twisted itself into being through my dream. I decided to have another look at my scene when I get back from work, to try and figure out what went wrong.

Oh man...

During the second reading of my scene, I nearly choked. I placed my deepest emotions on the digital paper, plain for all to see. The protagonist expressed them, but it was plain that they were mine. Too plain.  It was like sharing the whole world with something I was not ready to share with my conscious self. What a slap in the face!

I think I now recognize my biggest personal writing "road-block". I'm putting too much of my personal self into my writing. While investing emotionally in my writing should be a good thing, I should not create protagonists that are reflections of me. If my book ever gets published (and it is possible with all the digital publication methods available today) somewhere, someone will notice the details, connect the dots, and come for further explanations.

I have to find a better way to give the protagonist life of its own. While I am exploring some interesting emotional territories in my book, it was not my intent to make it a quest for self healing, or a way to tell the world about my private thoughts.

I should tell the world about the protagonist's private thoughts. I'm going to twist the story a little bit during my rewriting process today, and give the main character story, words and feelings. This time of its own.

Stories within a Story

When meeting for a D&D game session, I often try to let the players lead the story. In some groups, where players are content playing cardboard heroes with stereotypical stories behind them, letting the players drive the story means repeating some worn out fantasy story arc. Kill the Dragon, Save the Princess, etc.

These kind of games are easiest to run. These kind of players are easiest to satisfy.

But most of the gaming groups are composed of players with different tastes, different likes and dislikes. We, as Game Masters, need to constantly shift our attention, making sure everybody gets a moment to shine. In a group were one player likes "classic fantasy" and another loves "dark fantasy", after the dragon is killed, they'd better find out that the dragon used vile magic to switch bodies with the princess before the heroes arrived...Yes they killed the dragon (hence the "classic fantasy" guy is happy), but something was not at it seemed (thus making the "dark fantasy" dude involved).

When writing my novel, I sometimes stop and wonder if I should use the same attitude as in my campaign plot writing. Should I try to involve more that the typical reader? Is there such a thing as a typical reader? Or should I write solely for the sake of writing, and not let other considerations pollute my story?

As a Game Master, I try to make everybody happy by asking the players directly: what do you like? what would you like to see in the campaign? what "turns you on"? You would be surprised by the answers the players give you (if they give - but that's another issue).

The process of incorporating the likes and dislikes of all the players into a single, manageable story line is the thing that excites me the most when starting a new campaign. It's a challenge, and one that I really enjoy. There is nothing like the looks on a player's face once he realizes that a plot twist relates directly to his backstory, and nothing is more rewarding than seeing that player grabbing the reins and leading the group after something he himself injected into the story (by telling me what he wants from the game).

Unfortunately, writing a novel is not running a D&D campaign. During a session, you (as the Game Master) react to the whims of the players around the table. If they take the reins to some uncharted location in your campaign notebook, you activate those improvisation muscles and run with it. Sometimes you even ride on those chaotic waves to produce something wonderful. Novel writing is different. No one even sees your work until there's a big chuck of it written, and then it may be too late.

Problem is - I don't get paid for my writing, so I don't have the privilege of an editor looking at my drafts and helping me improve them. With players around the table, you know when you've made a mistake on the spot. With nothing but the laptop screen in front of you, the job gets a lot tougher...

A Really Long Break

It's been 4 months since I posted, mainly due some work issues. Real life can be a real pain sometimes...

Now that I have regained some control of my life, I started filling my spare time with the things I longed to do. At the top of my list: reading.

A friend of mine recommended Gardens of the Moon (Malazan Book of the Fallen), a novel that kicks off an epic fantasy book series.


I dived in (and it's a deep ocean of text to dive into, spanning ten mighty volumes of over 600 pages each), only to find myself awed by the magnitude of this work. It got me thinking about my own writing, which now looks to me like the work of an eager child compared to the polished product by Mr. Erikson.

That said, I did make some progress. I've got a complete chapter, which doesn't seem like much, but it's a chapter I'm happy with. I hope to get some more milage on both my reading and my writing, and it seems that one activity nourishes the other, so I'm enjoying myself at the moment.

Let's hope this calm weather continues...